'Memory Hackers' shows how our brains lie

It may be possible to erase, add and alter memories — but is it ethical? Nova investigates.

Researchers map the brain of 12-year-old Jake Hausler, who has a total recall ability known as 'highly superior autobiographical memory.'
(Photo: WGBH)

The movies “Total Recall,” “Inception” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” involved implanting or erasing memories, and they were all works
of science fiction. But as the PBS Nova documentary “Memory Hackers” reveals, the idea of altering memory is not that far-fetched, and has been successfully
explored in the laboratory in various experiments. Some of these experiments involve mice and sea slugs, but it’s not hard to imagine humans as mind-control subjects.

“Nobody should have to worry that this is going to be done to humans any time soon,” says
neurologist Nico Dosenbach. “The human mind is very, very complex, and completely erasing
memories, that's far away. But it's not impossible.”

The documentary,
which premieres on PBS Feb. 10, shows Dosenbach mapping the brain of Jake
Hausler, a 12-year-old boy with a total recall ability known as "highly superior
autobiographical memory," in order to better understand how memory works.

“Memory is very
complicated, easily broken by aging, trauma, Alzheimer’s, that can lead to
severe disabilities. If we can understand memory better we can use that to help
people with memory disorders. There are so many people suffering either
from intrusive, unwanted memories or difficulties making new memories. I think the benefits in the long run
will greatly outweigh the risks,” Dosenbach says.

Some researchers believe that editing memories could help
PTSD sufferers, people with phobias, anxiety disorders, and victims of
psychological trauma, such as rape victims.

“I think it's ethically irresponsible for us not to do this research. We can make tremendous
differences in health and medicine that have tremendous benefits for society,” says
Dr. Julia Shaw (right), a criminal psychology expert and professor and researcher at
London South Bank University.

However, her study of false memory has yielded surprising
findings about the ways our thoughts can be manipulated. In an experiment, she
used the power of suggestion and repetitive recall to implant false memories in
subjects about an incident that didn’t occur, and by the end of the experiment,
70 percent of the participants believed they had committed a crime.

If that can happen so easily, how reliable are trial
witnesses? The implications for the criminal justice system are obvious.

“The system needs a lot more education on how memory works
and, more importantly, how it doesn't work,” says Shaw.

As a consultant for the
police and the military, she says she teaches them “to ask the right questions,
to get reliable memories from witnesses, victims, and suspects. False
confessions, confessions, eyewitnesses — they make a case, or they break a
case. Most memories are good enough, but we need to be looking for red flags,
and police officers and the military need to know what they are. We need to be
very cautious how we ask people involved in the criminal justice system
questions.”

Shaw points out that false memories, which we all have, can
be beneficial.

“They’re the foundation of creativity and intelligence and all of the amazing
things that we do as humans,” she says.

Michael Bicks, the writer, producer and director of “Memory Hackers,” points
out that our memories “are not meant to be 100 percent accurate. They are not a
recording device, but a way of taking our experiences, putting them together,
and then being able to creatively predict what's going to happen in the future.
False memories are a byproduct of an amazing system that allows us to walk
through the world and do all of these complex things.”